GIIRS Fund Rating Methodology

GIIRS Fund Ratings include three parts: an Overall Impact Business Model Rating, an Overall Operations Ratings and a Fund Manager Assessment

Overall Impact Business Model and Overall Operations Ratings

The Overall Impact Business Model and Overall Operations Ratings are derived from a weighted average of each portfolio companies’ scores on the B Impact Assessment (BIA), based on the amount invested. You can learn more about the B Impact Assessment and our standards here.

Example: For a fund that has invested $10 million in three portfolio companies, the weighted Overall Impact Business Model Rating is calculated as follows:

The weighted average is then translated to a medal and star rating. The fund’s Overall Impact Business Model Rating is reflected by a medal - Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Platinum, and the Overall Operations Rating is reflected in stars, with five being the highest.

In addition to overall ratings, the fund will receive more granular ratings at the Impact Area level. Impact Areas include Community, Customers (for Business Model only), Environment, Workers and Governance. Below are detailed rating thresholds, based on the weighted-average of the fund’s portfolio companies’ B Impact Assessment scores.

Fund Manager Assessment

Impact Targets: How clearly the fund has articulated its impact thesis in the pre-investment stage

Investment Criteria: How the fund integrates impact into its due diligence process

Portfolio Management: How the fund manages for impact during the investment lifecycle. Topics covered include reporting, governance, accountability, and transparency

Funds earn a percentile rating based on a points earned out of 200.

Fund-in-Formation GIIRS Impact Rating

To receive a GIIRS Rating, a fund must have deployed at least 25% of their committed capital and have 75% of that committed capital go through the GIIRS rating process. Funds that have not yet had a first close or have not yet deployed 25% of their committed capital can receive a Fund-in-Formation GIIRS Impact Rating. A Fund-in-Formation Rating only reflects the performance of the fund manager on the Fund Manager Assessment, and does not include an aggregated portfolio level rating.

All three components of the GIIRS Impact Rating reflect a fund’s relative performance. Thresholds for each component are calculated every two years, along with a new version of B Lab’s standards. Current thresholds were released February 1, 2016.